A. F. Burke K. S. Kurani Institute of Transportation Studies University of California-Davis Davis, California 95616



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3.2.2 Government/Industry Consortia

Scope of Activity


Since the ZEV Program was put in place, a number of government/industry and industry consortia were formed that were concerned with developing technology needed to successfully meet the Program. These technologies included various types of traction batteries, high power electric drivelines, fuel cells, and demonstration vehicles. The government/industry consortia were formed to perform R&D in areas in which the cost of the R&D was high and the risk of failure was such that no one company wanted to finance it alone. In the government/industry consortia, the R&D was financed with a combination of government and industry funds with the industry cost share usually being about 50%. In some cases, the consortia consisted only of industry partners that desired to share the cost of the R&D that would benefit all the partners. A list of the various consortia formed after the Program is given in Table 3.2-3 along with the technologies and goals of each of the consortia. Note that the formation of consortia to work on technologies related to the ZEV Program occurred also in Japan and Europe.

Measures of the Impact


The impact of the consortia on the development of ZEV Program- related technologies can be measured both in economic terms and in terms of the progress made in developing the new and improved technologies needed to commercialize electric vehicles. The economic impact can be stated in terms of the number of companies involved in each of the consortium and the scope and budget of their programs. The budgets will include both the dollars from the industrial partners and the government funding where appropriate. The primary reason that the consortia were formed was to shorten the time period needed to develop the technologies needed to meet the Program. Hence a measure of the impact of the consortia is their contribution to the development of the new technologies for EVs, particularly the batteries. For some of the consortia, the improvements in the technologies yielded products for markets other than electric vehicles resulting in secondary benefits of the ZEV Program. In this regard, it is important to project the possible continuing impact of government/industry consortia in the future, especially in the United States where such consortia are not common.

Relevance of the Consortia to the ZEV Program


The primary factors in showing the relevance of the consortia to the ZEV Program are the types of activity in which they are engaged and the timing of their formation. The activities of the various consortia and the time of their formation are given in Table 3.2-3. In the case of the battery consortia (USABC and ALABC), there is no doubt that they were formed in response to the Program as development of advanced batteries for EVs was felt to be the key requirement for meeting the Program. The programs of all the consortia listed in the table are concerned with electric drivelines and electric and hybrid vehicles in one way or another and all were formed after the ZEV Program. Hence it seems reasonable to assert that the ZEV Program was a strong factor in their formation and that the consortia would not have been as productive as they have been without the ZEV Program. For example, the Partnership for a New Generation Vehicle (PNGV) consortium, which has a goal of developing a family car with a fuel economy of 80mpg, has utilized electric driveline components and battery technology in all their designs. Similarly, the DARPA Regional Advanced Vehicle Consortia that have had a number of large military and transit vehicle projects have involved many of the same companies and technologies (advanced batteries, improved electric drivelines) that are critical to the success of the ZEV Program.

There have also been Electric Vehicle Associations and Battery Development consortia formed in Japan and Europe. All of the consortia have contributed significantly to the rapid development of electric vehicle and battery technology that has occurred over the last ten years.



Scope and Budgets of the Consortia


The various consortia are described in Table 3.2-3 in terms of the type of companies and agencies that are members of each of them and their budgets. The dollar values given are the total annual budgets including funds contributed by the government and the industrial companies. It is difficult to determine with confidence the budgets of

Table 3.2-3: EV-related Consortia and their Budgets





Consortium, Date of Founding

Main Activity

Members

Budget in Period

million $



Period

USABC, 1991

Advanced battery development

U.S. auto companies, battery developers, DOE, National Labs

230

250


1991-1995

1995 - 2000



ALABC, 1992

Improved lead acid batteries

55 lead-acid battery companies

46

1992-2002

PNGV, 1993

Improved fuel economy (3X) of passenger cars

US auto companies and government agencies

950

1997-2000

ARPA, 1993

Heavy-duty hybrid vehicles and energy storage technology

Military agencies, small businesses developing vehicles and energy storage technology, heavy vehicle developers

100

1993-1996

California Fuel Cell Project, 1999

Demonstration of fuel- cell-powered vehicles

Auto companies, fuel cell suppliers, energy companies, federal and California agencies

----

----

the consortia because most of the contracts let by the consortia are multi-year contracts and they are cost shared to varying fractions by industry. For this reason, budget figures given in the literature often refer to dollars spent over a period of years. Also it is not always clear whether the budget numbers refer to total dollars spent or only to the government funds provided. These ambiquities are present in the budget numbers given in Table 3.2-3. Nevertheless the budget numbers given in the table indicate that large sums of money, about two (2) billion dollars have been spent in R&D activity related to the ZEV Program by the consortia in the United States. Large sums of money have also been spent by consortia in Europe and Japan, but it is difficult to determine how much from literature available in the United States.

Each of the consortia has focused on particular aspects of EV technology or type of vehicle development, a shown in Table 3.2-3. The work on advanced batteries by the USABC has resulted in the development of nickel metal hydride and lithium batteries with high energy and power density suitable for use in electric and hybrid vehicles. In less than ten years, these batteries have been developed to the point that they are being tested in high performance electric vehicles. In 1991, only small numbers of very small cells of these battery types were being produced for consumer applications and the application of those battery chemistries in large EV batteries seemed many years away. It seems unlikely that this rapid progress would have occurred without the USABC. Work on the improvement of the performance of lead acid batteries had been funded by DOE during 1980’s, but progress was relatively slow especially for valve regulated batteries. The pace of progress increased significantly with the formation of the ALABC with contributions from many companies. Sealed lead-acid batteries are now available with energy densities of 35-40 Wh/kg and cycle life approaching 500 cycles. While this higher energy density may still be marginal for EV applications, it makes lead acid batteries even more attractive for other applications such as automotive SLI, fork lifts, and UPS. The remarkable progress made in batteries in the last ten years has been primarily a result of the ZEV Program and battery consortia.

After the USABC, the Partnership in a New Generation Vehicle program (PNGV) seemed like a logical next step in which the US government and the auto companies could work together to greatly increase (up to 3X) the fuel economy of passenger cars. This was particularly appropriate in that from the start of the PNGV program it was envisioned that the vehicles designed and built would incorporate hybrid-electric drivelines, including some type of energy storage, probably batteries. The connection between the ZEV Program and the PNGV program became even stronger in 1996 when CARB introduced the concept of Partial ZEV Credits (PZEV) to permit the auto companies to use hybrid vehicles to satisfy part of their 10% ZEV requirement in 2003. Much of the new technology being developed by the auto companies for electric vehicles is applicable to the PNGV prototype vehicles. This includes electric motors and power electronics, batteries, and light-weight materials. Especially in the case of energy storage, the work being done for EVs is very closely related to the high fuel economy vehicle designs, which incorporate regenerative braking as a key element in reducing fuel usage.

The DARPA consortia were established in 1993 by the Congress in response to the end of the Cold War as means to develop technology transfer projects for civilian/military cooperation with the idea of converting some military contractors to civilian technology development. The program was called the ARPA Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Technology Program. It was recognized that with the ZEV Program, one of the most attractive areas for the utilization of defense contractors and high tech military technology companies were the development of emerging electric and hybrid vehicle technologies. ARPA consortia were setup on a regional basis in the Northeast, South, Midwest, Southern California (CALSTART), Northern California (SMUD), and Hawaii. Each of these consortia developed a program primarily involving companies in their geographical region. Especially in the first few years, many of the projects funded by the consortia had some components of special interest to the military as dual-use technologies. The tendency of the ARPA consortia was to support the development of large vehicles, like transit buses and heavy-duty trucks, and advanced energy storage technologies such as advanced batteries, ultracapacitors, and flywheels. The new heavy-duty vehicle technologies developed on the ARPA projects can be taken as a secondary benefit of the ZEV Program because the development of those technologies would not have been initiated without the parallel work being done on components for light-duty vehicles required by the ZEV Program.


3.3 Survey of New Economic Activity in California

A limited study of new economic activity in California as a result of the ZEV Program was done by CALSTART under a subcontract from UC Davis. CALSTART is an advanced clean transportation technology consortium. Since 1992, CALSTART has monitored advanced clean transportation technology companies in California, working closely and side-by-side on numerous demonstration and commercialization projects. Many of these companies are involved with EV-related technologies. For this reason, CALSTART was uniquely positioned to analyze EV-related economic activity in California.


However, the economic analysis that was feasible in this project is simply a survey of 134 companies known to CALSTART to provide certain products and services directly related to EV technologies. Only 22 responses were received. Therefore, the numbers derived in the analysis, while interesting and instructive, should not be viewed as a complete statement of the economic effects of the ZEV program.
3.3.1 Companies Surveyed

The list of companies to survey was developed as follows: (1) CALSTART first considered its Participant Program comprised of over 200 advanced clean transportation technology companies. CALSTART’s working relationship with these organizations enabled it to develop a list of the companies most likely affected by the ZEV Program. This list numbered 60 California companies. (2) Over the course of 8 years, CALSTART has developed ties with an additional 400 companies that are not participants in the CALSTART program, but are involved in the industry. CALSTART maintains relationships with these organizations and identified 65 of these as California candidates potentially affected by the ZEV Program. (3) CALSTART enlisted the expertise of its in-house personnel in expanding these lists to include potential candidates. A review of over 1100 potential companies generated an additional 9 companies. The total number of organizations contacted numbered 134. (See Table AP3-1 in Appendix 3).

A survey form was developed consisting of a series of questions to determine the number of new companies established since 1990, and/or new divisions of companies established in this industry, sales revenues, employment figures and new investments needed. Finally, each company was asked to make a determination as to the importance of the ZEV Program on past and future business. The survey form sent to each company is given Appendix 3 as Table AP3-2.
Of the 60 CALSTART participant companies targeted with the selection method described above, 17 companies responded to the survey. Of the 65 industry organizations targeted, 4 responded, and of the 9 additional companies targeted, there was one response. A total of 22 complete survey responses were received and recorded. As the survey requested actual sales revenue and projected revenue information, research and development information, and investment information, it was anticipated there would be some reluctance to provide this information. Telephonic follow-up confirmed this problem to some degree.
Each business was categorized as “small,” “medium” or “large” based on the number of employees and their sales revenue. Of the respondents, twelve (12) companies were categorized as small businesses, 2 medium-sized businesses, and 8 large businesses. The non-responding remainder of 112 companies were categorized by employment data in CALSTART’s files as 55 small businesses, 20 medium-sized businesses, and 34 large businesses. There were insufficient data for three companies of the 112 to judge their size, so a basis of 109 companies was used. The Table 3.3-1 summarizes the size characteristics of the respondents and the complete database surveyed.
Table 3.3-1: Size Characteristics of Respondent and

Non-Respondent Companies



Company Size

Respondents

Non-Respondents

Small

12

55

Medium

2

20

Large

8

34

The percentages in each size class are shown in Table 3.3-2 for the respondents and the overall population.


Table 3.3-2: Correction Factors to Account for the Size Difference

Between the Respondent and 134 Companies

A B


Company Size

% of Respondents

% of 134 Companies*

Ratio, B:A **

Small

54.5

51.1

.94

Medium

9.1

16.8

1.85

Large

36.4

32.1

.88

* fraction of all (131) companies in Table 3.3-1 (assumed to apply to 134 companies)

** used in considering how to scale-up (extrapolate) the survey data from the 22

respondents to the 134-company database.


CALSTART’s role as manager of small business incubators and virtual incubators probably accounts for the higher rate of small business response. CALSTART also works with utilities and OEM’s, and some of those companies account for the larger organization numbers.
3.3.2 Survey Results

Questions (1-3) - Company Activities


The companies surveyed were asked to indicate in which specific EV-related product, technology or service they were involved (Survey Question 1A). This open-ended question generated the following list of business activities. Each specific activity represents that of one respondent unless otherwise noted.



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